People sing the praises of Apple as being easier, more dependable and more intuitive than PCs. To be fair, this is my first Apple product since the Apple IIe. But I recently discovered a HUGE glitch with the iPad.
I’ve been using the Notes program that comes with the iPad for taking meeting notes, including the NYSCATE tech conference I recently attended.
After the conference, I wanted to paste an asterisk next to some action items. Alas! I accidentally chose “select all” and then paste. In an instant, two days worth of notes disappeared, replaced by an asterisk. And there is no “undo” button.
At least “clunky”, “uncool” Microsoft applications all come with an “undo” button. Maybe they recognize that since they are not perfect, perhaps some of their users are not uber-perfect either.
It’s pretty easy for your finger to slip and obliterate hours of work. Obviously, I will look for another note-taking tool. But I have to ask…..do only “perfect” humans use Apple products?
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Ouch!
I have a DropBox app on mine so I keep backups of important stuff in more than one place. That way your original notes would still have been on your other computer.
Sorry!
Jim
I have drop box also, but have not really used it. it might not have helped, unless drop box automatically saves files. I need to look into it. The notes program doesn’t seem to have a save function. It just automatically saves. The only way to move notes appears to be via email. I will have to play around. Thanks!
Take a look at Simplenote. It saves automatically, but you can go back to earlier versions. It also syncs with Notational Velocity on “regular” computers.
Honestly you should have known better than to use notes. I suggest course notes.
If you want to “undo” something on your iOS device simply shake the device immediately after you make a mistake. The “undo” message pops up. Tap it, and your test comes back.
Carlotski,
I wonder why a new Apple user “should know better”? When a company is known for it’s ease of use, one would expect that such a thing would not happen.
Tony,
A very useful answer. Now I know what to do if it happens again. Not exactly “intuitive” though is it? A simple icon that would lead to a menu of choices would be helpful. There are several long-time Apple users at my school, and none of them were aware of this option. Thank you very much for your answer. It seemed completely bizarre that there would be no undo option.
Its the app your using, you can use pages or quick office or gdocs. Also dropbox is awesome.
Also I never knew about the shake that is cool
The shaking procedure does work like a charm. Now that I know it, I will be all set. I do have Pages and some of the other suggested apps and use them now and again. I am not sure they have an undo button either…but if they are iPad apps, the probably the shake thing will work with them too. 🙂
Please try Evernote for your note taking needs.
Evernote syncs to the cloud, can be used on a variety of devices including iPads, iPods, Macs, PCs, Android devices etc.
It can even take notes using your webcam!
You’ll be glad you did.
Thanks for the suggestion. I use a similar tool called Dropbox. But I should also be able to use Notes without fear of losing my work. I think not including an undo button is a real design flaw. Shaking the iPad like an etch-a-sketch to bring up the undo button was probably designed as an amusing quirk. But it is not very amusing when you lose data. It is just an example of Apple’s insufferably “cooler than thou” attitude. The undo function is too useful to be coy about. Love my iPad, but I am not particularly enamored with Apple.